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Radical Hong Kong lawmaker reflects on leaving office after 31 years in political opposition
Albert Chan Wai-yip defends filibustering and challenges those championing city’s independence from mainland to achieve democracy without violence
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As Albert Chan Wai-yip leaves Hong Kong’s legislature after 31 years in politics, the core member of the anti-government “radical four” lawmakers insists their filibustering tactics succeeded.
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While officials have dismissed filibusters as wasting money and time, Chan, 61, said they had forced officials to engage lawmakers whom they otherwise would not have.
“For fear of retribution from ‘689’, I can’t say which bureaus engaged us,” he said, referring to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying by the number of votes the Hong Kong leader received from a 1,200-member election committee in 2012.
But Chan, who won 44,000 votes in the Legislative Council election that year, said it was not always easy for pan-democrats to decide whether to cooperate with the government, even behind the scenes.
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“If they find public opinion to be against a policy after they reached a deal with the government, it could put them in an awkward position,” he said of the lawmakers’ predicament.
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